Wednesday, September 06, 2006

COMMUNITY BASED NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SRI LANKA -A REVIEW OF SOME PROJECTS

Community participation is an approach that is receiving attention across the globe and one that marks a departure from the ‘top down’ orientation, which characterized the cultural dimension of the modernist perspective of development.

This paper reviews two projects, which had been formulated to conserve the country’s natural resources and to empower people and rural communities to manage and protect them in a sustainable manner while reaping economic benefits. The projects that are discussed are ‘Akkaraseeya’ site of the Upper Watershed Management Project of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Participatory Forestry Project of the Forest Department. In each of these projects, the degree/level of community participation, the presence of collaborative decision making and co-management, the key stakeholders and interest of each stakeholder group, the management strategies adopted, the extent to which these have been able to address the needs of the community and the degree of sustainability are being discussed.